JP2006-170295A discloses a coast stop technology for automatically stopping an engine during the travel of a vehicle for the purpose of reducing a fuel consumption amount. At a coast stop, fuel supply to the engine is stopped and an automatic transmission is set in a neutral state, thereby completely stopping the rotation of the engine.
The coast stop is also possible in a vehicle including a v-belt continuously variable transmission mechanism (hereinafter, referred to as a “variator”) as an automatic transmission. To perform a coast stop, fuel supply to the engine may be stopped and a frictional engagement element (clutch or brake) arranged before or after the variator to switch transmission and non-transmission of power may be released.